1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a fishing rod and a reel seat for a fishing rod, and specifically to a reel seat, in which a top-mount style fishing reel is fixed on a fishing rod, and that is provided with a trigger which stabilizes a user's grip of the rod in the user's palm or during casting.
2. Description of Related Art
In a fishing rod which is designed to catch small to medium fish, and on which a top-mount style fishing rod reel, such as a coaxial receiving type reel, a bait reel, or the like is mounted, a trigger for use as a finger rest may be provided. The trigger may be in the form of a lever. Normally, a position and a protruding direction of this trigger are fixed, and the trigger is constituted as a portion of a reel seat on which a reel is mounted.
FIG. 9 shows one example of a fishing rod “r” that is provided with a reel seat with this type of trigger “f”. FIGS. 10(A) and (B) show details of the reel seat “a”.
The reel seat “a” has a pipe-shaped body “b”. On the top of the right half of this body “b” (right direction in FIGS. 9 and 10(A) and (B)), a reel foot placing surface “e” is provided in a shape in which a fixing foot “d” of a reel “c” can be stably placed. From the bottom portion, a trigger “f”, which has a tip with a relatively thin width, protrudes downward and slightly forward. The length of trigger “f” is approximately equal to a length in which one finger of a medium size adult can be placed (FIGS. 11(A) and (B)).
A fixed hood “g” is provided, which is integrally formed with the body “b” and has a flat opening “h” which covers the rear end portion of the reel foot placing surface “e”. The trigger “f” protrudes from this fixed hood “g”.
A pipe-shaped movable hood “i” is provided with a rotatably connected nut on the front side. The nut “j” is engaged to an engaging axial portion “k” which forms the front half portion of the body “b”, and thus is attached to the body “b”. An opening “l” of the rear end portion of the movable hood “i” covers the front end portion of the reel foot placing surface “e”.
This type of reel seat “a” forms a portion of a fishing rod “r” by a fishing pole “n” being inserted and attached to a hole “m” of the body “b”. The trigger “f” protrudes substantially perpendicular from the fishing rod pole.
The fishing pole “n” protrudes toward the rear of the body “b”. A long handle “o” is externally fixed to this portion of fishing pole “n”. Additionally, line guides “q” are attached in series on the front side of the body “b” from the reel seat “a” on the fishing pole “n”.
When the reel “c” is mounted, one end portion of the fixing foot “d” is inserted into the fixed hood “g”. The fixing foot “d” is placed on the reel foot placing surface “e”. The nut “j” is tightened and the movable hood “i” is moved toward the rear direction. The other end portion of the fixing foot “d” is inserted relative to the movable hood “i”, and the respective movable and fixed hoods “i” and “g” hold the fixing foot “d” onto the reel foot placing surface “e”.
In this fishing rod “r”, casting and palming are normally performed as follows.
FIGS. 11(A) and 11(B) show a user that has just completed a single hand cast. During single hand casting, an index finger of the hand holding the fishing rod “r” is placed on the trigger “f.” A thumb is placed on a spool “p” of the reel “c” in order to measure the timing of line feed out. The handle “o” to the rear body “b” is gripped by the remaining three fingers. Furthermore, as shown in FIGS. 11(A) and 11(B), by facing the palm upward, a fishing rod “r” is positioned so that the bottom of the reel “c” faces sideways. Casting is performed by swinging the rod “r” in an overthrow motion toward a target.
Therefore, the trigger “f” of this case primarily prevents the fishing rod “r” from being thrown away.
In FIGS. 11(A) and 11(B), a case of single hand casting is shown. However, when casting is performed by both hands, other than gripping the tip of the handle “o” with the other hand, there is no significant difference in rod gripping compared to single hand casting.
As shown in FIGS. 13 and 14(A), the fishing rod “r” is supported by a user's palm after casting is completed so that the reel “c” and the reel seat “a” can be entirely covered by one hand. In this case, the tip of the user's thumb is placed on the top end of the periphery of the side wall of the reel “c”, and the user's third finger or middle finger is placed on the trigger “f” (in the figures, placement of the third finger is shown). Therefore, the body “b” of the reel seat “a” is supported from the bottom by the user's three fingers. By so doing, the reel “c”, which is the heaviest part of the fishing rod “r” and the reel seat “a” are held in the user's palm, so the user is less fatigued.
Depending on the user and the type of the reel “c”, this palming can be performed by either hand.
Furthermore, conventionally this type of trigger “f” can have various shapes. There are many shapes which are substantially perpendicular to the fishing rod “r” or bent more slightly toward the front than of the fishing rod “r” (e.g., Japanese Patent Publication 2717338, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 9-205944, or the like). There are also triggers which are bent in an arc shape from a lower direction to a front side (Japanese Utility Model 51-8874, Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Application 7-34664, or the like).
Additionally, the trigger “f” may be formed separate from the reel seat, and then fixed to the reel seat or the handle.
In a fishing rod with a conventional trigger “f” there is a significant burden to a user's wrist or elbow during casting and palming. It is also difficult to stabilize a fishing rod.
A main cause of these problems is a preconception that slipping during casting must be prevented by placing an index finger on a trigger. If a trigger is designed based on this concept, the trigger will have a shape and protruding direction so that when the user's index finger is placed on the trigger it is difficult to remove. In this state, the user's thumb can easily reach to the top surface or the rear surface of the spool of a reel. Therefore, the trigger protrudes at an angle which is substantially perpendicular to the fishing rod or bent toward a front side. The trigger is relatively close to the reel, with a length sufficient for a user to place one index finger on the trigger. Therefore the trigger is substantially immediately below a user's thumb placed on a rear side of the spool “p”.
Many conventional triggers are designed based on this preconception, so that the shape, size, and protruding direction are substantially the same as the above-mentioned trigger “f”.
As a result, if the fishing rod is gripped without a user bending a wrist or an elbow in an unnatural position, as seen in FIG. 11(B), the three fingers from the middle finger to the fourth finger, particularly the third finger and the fourth finger, generates a space “s”, distant from the bottom of the body “b” and the handle “o”. Therefore, the body “b” cannot be firmly gripped by all the user's fingers. In this case, the user's thumb is basically used to operate the reel and can hardly grip the fishing rod. Therefore, only the user's index finger and the middle finger can be actually used to firmly grip the fishing rod. In this state, the gripping force is not sufficient, so the fishing rod “r” can be unstable in the user's hand. The swinging force of the fishing rod “r” is also diminished. Therefore, the casting direction is not precise, and the maximum distance is diminished.
This is also true in the case of palming. As shown in solid lines in FIG. 13, if the fishing rod is gripped during palming without the user bending the wrist to an unnatural position, the third finger and the fourth finger are separated from the bottom of the body “b” and the handle “o”, so a space “s” is generated.
Therefore, many users try to bend their elbows and wrists to an unnatural position in order to firmly grip the handle “o” and the body “b” with all their fingers even during casting and palming. That is, during palming, as shown by a user's arm by a 2-dotted chain line of FIG. 13, the fishing rod “r” is held by a user's wrist bent at approximately 90°. During casting, as shown in FIG. 12, a user grips a fishing rod by turning the fishing rod toward the inside from a shoulder to an elbow and by bending a wrist at approximately 90° toward the outside.
However, gripping in this manner creates a significant burden to a user's elbow and a wrist. As a result, casting is performed improperly, and operation mistakes such as mistiming of hooking occur. In particular, during boat fishing, when a fishing rod drops down to the water, in order to easily support a fishing rod, palming may be performed for many hours. In this case the end of the handle “o” is sandwiched under the user's arm (see FIG. 13), so bending of the wrist is significant.
Furthermore, as described above, a conventional trigger “f” is immediately below the tip of the user's thumb placed on the reel “c”. Therefore, if palming is performed in a natural manner, the user's fourth finger cannot be brought in front of the trigger “f”. As a result, the trigger “f” must be sandwiched between the user's middle finger and the fourth finger or the middle finger and the third finger. Normally, during palming, the fishing rod is held for many hours until a fish is caught, so a user may have significant pain in the third finger and the fourth finger.
Additionally, only one of the user's fingers can be placed on a conventional trigger “f”. Gripping needs to be performed with enough force to stably support the position of a fishing rod in an axial direction. That is, in this type of fishing rod, various actions can be taken in a position such that the reel, which is a heavy member, is on the top or side of the fishing rod, and the position becomes unstable because a rotational force constantly acts on the fishing rod in the axial direction. Therefore, rotation of the fishing rod due to this rotational force must be constantly prevented by the user. In this case, in the conventional trigger “f”, a distance D (see FIG. 14(A)) between the user's finger placed on the trigger “f”, and the tip of the thumb, which is placed in the reel “c”, is not great, so the fishing rod needs to be gripped with enough force to firmly prevent the rotation of the fishing rod.